The route to your future, lies at your core. It’s time to take a bite.

In a world of hype and panic, when many organisations are consumed by robotics, AI and future challenges, there’s a calming, rational voice emanating from the consultant community that brings structure, focus and attention to the things that truly make a difference to your business’ success. It’s Wadzi – a Talmix independent consultant.

We speak to her about her journey through independent consulting thus far, her views on the issues facing organisations today, and how a cultural re-adjustment to focus on you core values and strategy is the only thing you should be worried about.

Why Wadzi

“I’ve always been someone who is driven by passion – but not just something that makes me feel good, passion in what I deliver to my clients and passion in developing a successful career for myself,” says Wadzi. And it’s that passion that has led her to work with a huge variety of clients and organisations all over the world. From new ventures to public sector, investment and internal functional roles, Wadzi has done most and her career sees her working with a leading risk management consulting business in Switzerland, an on-demand start-up in Asia Pacific, a not for profit in Kenya and more. Wadzi’s experience has taken her from Bain & Co to African Leadership Academy, The Western Australian Department of Treasury and Bankwest.

So, what’s in it for businesses today?

Wadzi enjoys working with consumer-facing businesses and has seen her career take her into the Insurance and Mobile Money spaces as well as Education. We ask Wadzi about some of the challenges she’s seeing clients face today.
“I think the first challenge that most businesses face today is confronting a changing marketplace. There is so much disruption going on. But organisations are having to face defining what that disruption means and how much that impacts their own business. They are being forced to look at how they position their business to be effective in that marketplace and how much of a priority the disruption needs to be in their worlds.”
Wadzi also adds that the next biggest challenge to organisations in the economy today is data-driven decision-making. “Businesses are trying to become better at using data to organise and empower themselves, better. For example, how they improve the way they hire talent, assessing staff productivity more etc. Many times, decisions on progress are made according to gut feel and relationship – but organisations need to become better at collecting and deploying data that improves core processes more”, she says. The third challenge that Wadzi adds to the mix is customer centricity. “Customer centricity is becoming a critical focus area for most businesses. What started out at something that only distinguished a few tech companies such as Amazon, has now gained wider traction. And although many businesses are starting to push the same types of initiatives, they have to ask themselves what “putting the customer at the core” truly means for their own organisation”.

And what about tomorrow?

“The future is not imminent,” Wadzi tells me controversially. “I don’t think the world as we know it is going to change tomorrow. And what organisations need to do is keep a level head. The businesses that will win are those who have a close eye on what their core is. Everything else is noise – and everything else is something that can be responded to, if their core is right. For example, with the digital disruption trend – companies should rather be asking themselves how relevant that trend is to their organisational core. And if it is, then it can be responded to appropriately, and managed accordingly”. Wadzi also tells me that what organisations should be focussing on is getting a handle on strategic leadership. “Organisations don’t have the luxury of time to map out their strategy and plan what needs to be done over the course of months, or even weeks. They need to be embedding an agility in the way that they operate. Being able to respond to market changes and requirements is critical for organisations to get right, so that they can win”, she adds.

The truth about what really matters.

She spends a lot of time understanding what the core question is that her client is asking. There’s usually a very particular problem that they need help with. It helps her frame her work and it helps her client identify the things that really matter to their strategy. “It’s easy to feel like you’re doing something by keeping busy – but it may not generate any value to your business. Your prerogative as an organisation should simply be to keep your costs as low as possible and your revenue as high as possible – and If you’re doing something that doesn’t contribute to either of those objectives, you have to ask yourself what you’re really doing?”

If you are looking to work alongside someone who can help you get back to your core organisational driver and help to build a strategy that is meaningful, sustainable and most importantly, true to your vision, then Wadzi may be the person for you. To get started, give us a call today.

About the Author

Katy is an independent marketing consultant and founded Fresh Brew Marketing out of her love for the cuppa. A seasoned marketer, Katy writes for several global publications and provides outsourced marketing services to businesses throughout the UK. She is a keen geocacher and rates running around in city centres dressed in Christmas lights as one of her most successful Social Media campaigns to date.